Thursday after Ash WednesdayOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Day of Sanctifying Works (Vietnam))

The third day of the Vietnamese New year celebration is concerned with what we are going to do with this new year which has been given us. It is a celebration of human work. As Christians we do not find fulfilment by self-absorbed self-contemplation. We do.The First Reading tells how God put man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and take care of it. In the Second Reading Paul boasts to the Ephesians how he has never asked them for money to support him in his preaching: when he needed money, he sat down and made tents. The Gospel is one of the most terrifying of all: the Parable of the Talents, which tells of the terrible fate of anyone who is given talents and uses them purely for sitting around and feeling safe.(Bl. Alvarez of Cordoba OP ( - 1430))

Friday after Ash WednesdayOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Bl. Christopher of Milan OP (c.1410 - 1484))

Dominican Friar and Priest.Blessed Christopher was born at Milan around 1410. He dedicated his whole life to itinerant preaching after the example of Saint Vincent Ferrer. The austerity of his life and his zeal for souls led an ancient chronicler to say of him: “He was truly a Christ-bearer, for he carried Christ not only in name, but in his heart and on his lips.” While master of novices for the Dominican Order he wrote a treatise On the Service of God for them. He died at Taggia in March, 1484.

Saturday after Ash Wednesday, (commemoration of Saint Peter Damian, Bishop, Doctor)

Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Peter Damian (1007 - 1072))